Sunday 10

1. Wanna know how lame I am? My family was here for 5 whole days, and I didn't take my camera out ONCE. I have zero pictures of our Thanksgiving festivities.
2. So the parental unit (as Michelle and I call them), Steven, and Cami got here Monday afternoon. We spent the afternoon getting them settled in and figuring out where everyone was going to sleep. I, again, was very grateful for our house with enough room for everyone!
3. On Tuesday Chelsea and Derek came over to watch my kids and Cami while we all went to see "Savior of the World". Alex had a basketball game that night, so he couldn't come, but the rest of us had a great time. I loved the play.
4. On Wednesday, Alex got our Christmas lights put up, and my mom, Cami, and I went down to Orem and met Cindy for a little shopping. My big purchase: peachie rings. So good.
5. TURKEY DAY!! I love Thanksgiving. I love all the kitchen preparation and family and pie and the kickoff to Christmas. It's just a good day. Thank goodness my mom was here to help out with the food. My grandma hasn't been feeling well, so she and my aunt didn't end up coming. But we still had 16 people here for dinner, and enough leftover turkey for lots of sandwiches, a big batch of turkey soup, plus some extra. And I got to use my new roaster that Liz gave me for my early birthday present. Once the new appliance smell burned off, it worked like a charm.
6. After looking through the ads, we determined that it wasn't worth it to get up early on Friday morning. So we didn't. I stayed in sweats most of the morning and loved it. We finally decided to hit a couple stores, so we went to Joanns and Sports Authority, where we met up with my brothers. Alex went golfing, and said it was perfect weather and he played one of his best games ever.
7. My family left late Friday afternoon. It was so fun having them here, watching home videos, playing ping pong, eating ice cream, and shopping. Good times. Thanks fam!
8. Friday night, Alex and I left the kids at the Gardners with a babysitter and went with the Gardners and Marshalls to Chilis and the BYU basketball game. Then we picked up some treats and played games at the Gardners. The babysitters said Brynne wandered away, and when they found her she was asleep, so they just put her on Brooke's twin bed. She was so cute when I peeked in on her. When I went to get her so we could leave, she was curled up on the hardwood floor with her jammies half unzipped. Poor kid.
9. Alex's day yesterday was mainly consumed with the BYU v. Utah game. Wendy, who was in town for Thanksgiving, and Chelsea came over and we went to lunch at Olive Garden. It's always fun seeing friends I haven't seen in awhile. Good times.
10. After Alex got home last night, we put the kids to bed then settled down to catch up on some DVR shows. I love nights where our house is quiet and it's just the two of us. Doesn't happen nearly as often as I'd like.

Sunday 10

1. On Monday we went to Chili's for dinner with the Gardners. Afterwards we went to Kohls and walked around for a little bit.
2. Basketball is in full swing now. I'm preparing myself to not see Alex as much. He thinks I'm throwing him under the bus when I say that, but let's be honest: life gets really busy between the basketball and holiday seasons.
3. Lindsay and the kids stopped by to play for a little on Tuesday afternoon. I love how good our kids play together. I picked up "Up" from the Redbox on Tuesday, and our family watched it that night. Some parts were a little scary for them, but overall I thought it was a good movie.
4. Thursday afternoon I had a few friends from the old ward over for lunch and to hang out. It's always good to see those friends and hang out a little.
5. Thursday night I had our Activity Days recognition night. It turned out pretty well, and I got a new pumpkin brownie recipe to make for it that was so good. Overall, a good night!
6. Friday after school we went to the Gardners and let the kids play while Lindsay and I canned apple pie filling. It was a lot of fun and I'm excited to try it on Thanksgiving!
7. Yesterday was a great snow day. I have not been looking forward to the snow, but it was okay yesterday since I mainly just stayed inside. There is still snow on our lawn tonight and it's been a cold day!
8. Alli had a birthday party to go to yesterday and Holly was really sad that she didn't get to go, so I promised her a Mommy/Holly day. We went to Old Navy and got clothes for our family picture tomorrow, to Target, and to Sonic to get strawberry slushes. She told me her day was "spoiled, spoiled, spoiled!" I don't get to spend a lot of one-on-one time with Holly, so it was really great to just be with her.
9. Chelsea and Derek came over last night, and Derek and Alex drove up to Sandy to pick up a ping pong table that we bought off ksl.com. It's sitting in our garage now because our basement stairs were too icy to attempt carrying it down. We're excited to use it, especially when my family comes for Thanksgiving!
10. And last, but not least, here is a picture of my kids in their jammies before bed tonight. Don't you love all the pink around here?!?

Sunday 10 Checklist

1. FHE to Home Depot and ice cream. Check
2. Trip to Gardner Village with Carly, Rachelle, and Natasha from Santa Rosa. Check
3. Activity Days meeting. Check
4. Painting a wall in my room. Check
5. Girls night on Friday with Lindsay, Chelsea, Katie and Becky...shopping and dinner. Check
6. Installing chair rail in Brynne's room with Alex. Check
7. Wishing my baby brother a happy 18th birthday. Check.
8. Adult session of stake conference, followed by amazing dessert with the Trimbles. Check.
9. Surviving stake conference with the kids this morning, and now enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon. Double check.
10. Clinging to the last week before basketball starts up in full swing. Sadly...check.

Sunday 10

1. Another busy week! Alex left early Monday morning for a quick business trip to New York. To make the time go a little faster, I planned lots of fun activities.
2. Monday night, Cindy and Miji came over and entertained me while I painted Brynne's room. I got half of it done that night, then finished the rest Tuesday afternoon during Brynne's nap. We need to install chair rail still, but then it will be all done! I love how it's turning out.
3. Tuesday morning I went to the scrapbooking store with Mary and Ashlee to pick out paper for our project. They came over that night and we watched "So You Think You Can Dance" while we finished our craft. I haven't put them up yet, but I'll be posting pictures when I do!
4. After spending two full days painting and doing the project, I made myself stay home Wednesday and just clean and do laundry. I got everything done, and Alex got home late that night.
5. Holly had her preschool Halloween party on Thursday. I made her dress, borrowed the hat, and bought the tights. She looked adorable, if I do say so myself.
6. Thursday night we met up with Aunt Carla, Cindy and Chad at Gardner Village. Like always, Carla spoiled my girls with treats and pony rides, and got lots of stares with her crazy hair costume!
7. Friday was Alli's Halloween party. They had a little costume parade, and she was so excited to show off her Snow Queen costume.8. Friday night we went to Logan for Abbey's cousin sleepover birthday party. We had a lot of fun playing games and talking, and the kids finally went to sleep at some late hour.
9. We came back Saturday afternoon and got soup made and costumes on.

Here is Brynne getting ready for Trick-or-Treating:
You might think she looks happy, but this is really how she acted for most of the evening:

Alex stayed home and handed out candy, and I took the kids out. Brynne made it to every third or fourth house, and every time she got a piece of candy she asked me to "open!" Eventually I sent her home and stayed out with the kids. Here's a picture of Alli and Holly with our neighbor Lauren, who we went trick-or-treating with.

10. Daylight Savings threw me off today. It felt like we had soooo much time before church. We had the Gardners over for dinner, and the Marshalls joined us for dessert. We love our friends.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Brynne ever. I took this at Gardner Village. Isn't she adorable?